Beauty
by Kamasa Chan
Summary: Why does Yumichika judge everything by beauty? Momo Hinamori wanted to know.


_Well... I wanted to know the answer. So I made it up! Please don't injure me..._

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"Goodness, goodness, where is he? Captain Kenpachi said that he would be in one of those places…" A disgruntled Momo Hinamori sighed and pressed her left hand delicately against her temple. "I've searched through nearly all of Seireitei! I even asked Hanatarou-kun to check all the men's bathrooms! How many places are left to go? I really doubt that someone who is five-foot-seven can fit into a cupboard… Oh…" The frazzled Shinigami shook her head ad cast a glance at the setting sun. The golden orb had almost completely sunk completely through the horizon, painting the sky orange to red to purple with clusters of pink clouds. "I suppose I can quit for today and start again tomorrow," Momo mused. "After all, we don't have to leave until the day after tomorrow…"

As she turned around the corner to head back to the fifth division's living quarters, her eyes widened. Aha, there he was!

"Excuse me, Yumichika! Hey, Yumichika!" she called, and began running towards him. The eleventh squad fifth seat showed no signs of hearing her. "Yumichika!" He kept on walking down the street in a leisurely manner towards his own house. Momo frowned in annoyance. Sure, he was at the end of the street, a good hundred meters or so, but he should have been able to hear her. What, did he deem her too ugly to make contact with? She skidded to a halt and set her jaw, drawing in all the air she could.

"YO, AYASEGAWA!" she yelled at the top of her voice, shocking herself with how loud she was. Finally, though, Yumichika stopped walking and turned around. Wires ran from his ears into the fold of his robes. As Momo caught up to him, she bit her lip in worry. Wires? Oh, no, no, please don't be an experiment of Mayuri Kurotsuchi…

"Momo Hinamori," Yumichika greeted, gently pulling at the wires. A strange mechanical bulb was attached at the end of each wire. Momo could hear some sort of music coming from it faintly; apparently this had been in his ear. Reaching into the pocket in his robe, Yumichika fished out an electronic and pushed a button. The music stopped. "Now," he said, "how may I help you?"

Momo let out a soft sigh of relief, finding Yumichika was not a victim of the twelfth division captain. "We've been assigned a mission in the world of the living. The day after tomorrow, we, along with Hanatarou Yamada and Nanao Ise, will have to depart Seireitei. If you have any questions, you should go ask Captain Yamamoto." She stopped and began coughing.

Yumichika patted her back gingerly. "Are you alright, Hinamori-san?"

"I'm okay," Momo whispered, clearing her throat slightly. "I'm sorry, I just recovered from my coma, but there are some after-effects. Captain Unohana told me—." Her words got lost in another fit of coughing.

"I have an excellent herbal tea, Momo, that does wonders for throat ailments as well as a few sinus ailments," Yumichika offered. "Would you like to come back to our quarters for a cup or two?"

"Thank you," Momo said. "Hot tea might do me good." She coughed again slightly. Yumichika smiled.

"Alright then, let's go cure your cough as soon as possible," he said. The two of them walked down the street towards the living quarters, discussing the strange music-box along the way.

"Please, take a seat. I will brew the tea at once," Yumichika said once they were in his house. Momo nodded and settled herself at the small table in the living room.

"Your home is lovely," she murmured, glancing around at the spotless floors, walls, and furniture. The wooden frames of the windows, doors, and all of the furniture was a dark mahogany, while the walls, paper shojis, wall scrolls, and tatami mats were all very pale shades of beige.

Yumichika smiled yet again and picked a teapot and two cups off of a shelf on his bookcase. "Thank you, Hinamori-san," he answered, lightly dusting off the intricate flower pattern on the side of the white porcelain pot. "Ugh, I hate dust," he added in disgust. "It makes everything so ugly and unsanitary."

Shaking his head, he carried the tea set into his kitchen. Momo could hear him rinse out the pot and cups, open and close a tea tin, and boil water. Just as the teapot began to whistle and a faint aroma of herbs and flowers began to waft out of the kitchen, there was a crash, a bang, a yelp, and something that sounded vaguely like "Holy Sushi."

A moment later, Yumichika reappeared holding the teapot and two steaming cups on a tea tray, gasping slightly with hair and feathers askew.

"Um, are you okay?" Momo asked timidly. She had never seen Yumichika with so much as a hair out of place, and now he looked like he had just fallen out of bed after waking up.

The ruffled Shinigami set down the tray in front of Momo and sat down across from her himself. He began to rearrange himself, frowning at a bent yellow feather at his eye. While he reached up to try to straighten it, his sleeve slid down his wrist a few inches, and Momo caught her breath.

"Goodness, what happened to you?"she whispered, staring at a patch of shiny, dark red skin peppered with blisters on his forearm. "Did you burn yourself just now while making tea? Is that why you yelled?"

"Yes, unfortunately," Yumichika sighed, yanking his sleeve into place. "There was a bit of water on the floor, I slipped, and I banged my arm against the stove." He peeked at his injury and shook his head. "So very ugly indeed, I can barely stand to look at it! My flawless skin, ruined by a huge burn."

Momo reached across the table and gingerly took his hand, taking care not to touch the burnt skin. She concentrated for a moment and allowed herself to heal the burns. Slowly the blisters healed and the redness faded away, leaving Yumichika with his normal, pale, smooth skin. Sighing happily, Momo sat back down on her white silk cushion. "There, good as new."

"Thank you very much, Hinamori-san," Yumichika exclaimed, running his fingers over his forearm. "You are an amazing healer. Now I am rid of that hideous blemish!"

"Yumichika, may I ask you something?"

"Why, certainly, you may."

Momo swallowed and blushed slightly. "Why are you always going on about beauty and ugliness?" she blurted. "Does that matter all that much? I mean, your whole personality is based on it! And besides, no offense, but your captain is not what I would call beautiful…" She held her breath and slowly let it out.

Yumichika blinked. Then he laughed and began serving the tea and some cookies baked in the shape of plum blossoms.

"Ah, Momo Hinamori, you were so very inquisitive back in the academy," he chuckled. "And about Captain Kenpachi… I will not comment on that, but as for me…" He took a cookie and dropped it into his cup, watching the flower float in a pool of hot tea. "It's a long story of how I acquired this… habit, shall we say." He lifted his eyes up to meet Momo's. "Would you like to hear? I warn you, I will get boring, most likely."

Shaking her head, Momo picked up her teacup and said, "I don't mind. Please, tell me." She sipped at the tea. Her throat cleared instantly, and the ache in the back numbed.

Clearing his own throat, Yumichika smiled sadly. "Alright then, here goes.

"When I was… alive, respectively, I lived in Kyoto, the capital of Japan back then. It was the heart of Heian Kyo, everything was amazing, and the people were all stuck up and beautiful." He smiled sheepishly. "You see, Momo, that's where it begins for me."

Momo smiled back. "Aw, don't feel bad. Please, go on."

Yumichika nodded. "There were many beautiful and elegant people in Kyoto, but the most beautiful were gathered in one place. I was born into the Ayasegawa family, relatives of the Fujiwara. I loved my parents and my four older sisters, Amaiko, Sotoko, Kiwako, and Mitsuko. But when I was four, my father died and my mother remarried, a wealthy man the Fujiwara family matched her with. And, as you know, the Fujiwara's words were law.

"My stepfather was associated with the Fujiwara very closely, and he ran a brothel near the castle in Kyoto. Rich citizens and travelers visited to… well… And business was steady, since my stepfather had what must have been more than fifty of Japan's most beautiful women in his harem. My mother, sisters and I thought the business was dishonorable and dirty, but it was money, and we could not argue.

"My mother died the winter after she remarried from fever along with about ten of the girls employed by the brothel. To fill some of the spaces, my stepfather turned my sisters into courtesans as well. My youngest sister, Mitsuko, was only fifteen at the time, but she was forced into becoming a prostitute to bring in more money. My four sisters, my only family, all stripped of their dignity and innocence by strangers, several times. They hated it, and would cry at night. Our stepfather broke their hearts and spirits to the point where they didn't want to live anymore."

Yumichika's face had darkened and his voice had become deadly quiet. "Being the only boy in the family and brothel, my stepfather loathed me. He hated me bitterly, because in his eyes I was only a useless freeloader. I couldn't make any money for him. He would have gotten rid of me earlier, but my mother had still been alive then, and he couldn't abandon me now since most of the courtesans knew me, and would report to the Fujiwara if I went missing.

"Because he could not turn a five-year-old boy into a courtesan, he ordered me to make myself as beautiful as possible to just be a prop. I was a servant boy, cleaning out the rooms, hot springs, and the other facilities in the harem. I cooked for everyone, prepared everyone's clothing and cosmetics, kept schedules, and tended to any injuries that occurred, all while maintaining a beautiful face. The only thing that I did not take care of was the money. My stepfather did that work himself. He threatened to kill me if I touched even one coin. I had to stay beautiful to stay alive.

Sighing, Yumichika shook his head and smiled ruefully at Momo. "See? Isn't it really corny and stupid, the beginning of this habit of mine?"

Momo opened her mouth and closed it several times, unsure of what to do or to say. Finally she was able to gasp, "What happened next?" Realizing how childish she sounded, she blushed and pushed a cookie around her plate with her fingertip. "Sorry, I didn't mean…"

"No, no, it's quite alright," Yumichika interrupted, waving off Momo's apology. "If you would like me to, I'll continue.

"Even though I was in the environment I was in, my stepfather instructed me not to contact anyone or anything ugly. I couldn't even look at them. Once I was caught peering out of a window in the brothel out at a market in the poorer section of Kyoto. People there were still glamorous, but not as much as the richer areas, right? The marketplace wasn't kept as cleanly as it could have been, but it felt comfortable, like home, a little bit. Everyone knew one another; men and salesmen chatted amiably, women murmured poems to each other through their many sleeves and admired each others' fragrance recipes kindly, and children ran together through the aisles, laughing and playing and getting small samples of foods from various booths and stands. I thought that it was really magical, but apparently my stepfather did not. He locked me in my room in the harem and didn't let me out for about three days, with no food and a flower vase with water in it. Goodness… I almost fainted then, being five years old, and I still had to keep up my appearance when Amaiko, my oldest sister, let me out.

"A little bit after that incident, Kiwako died." Yumichika sighed sadly and examined his reflection in his cup full of now lukewarm tea. "A particularly drunk client wanted to have his way with her, but she tried to make him wait a bit to sober so she wouldn't get hurt. However… Well, all I knew at the time was that she had an accident, but Sotoko and Mitsuko told me that the client became angry with waiting and smashed a sake bottle. He forced himself upon Kiwako and slashed her up, top to bottom, including throat, wrists, and belly."

Momo covered her mouth with her hand in horror. "Oh my goodness…" she whispered. Tears slid down her cheeks, which were ashy pale now.

Yumichika lifted his eyebrows in surprise. "I'm so very sorry," he said, bewildered. "I didn't mean to upset you. Should I stop?"

"No, no," Momo said, wiping away the tears from her eyes and face. "I'm fine. If it doesn't bother you, please, go on. I want to hear the rest…"

"Mm… Fair enough," Yumichika said with a shrug. He cleared his throat slightly. "With what happened to Kiwako, my sisters started to become even more afraid than before with their work as courtesans. Each night we would gather in Amaiko's room and discuss how to leave the harem without my father noticing." He suddenly laughed. "That sounded really odd… But anyhow, Amaiko made plans for each of us to escape except for her. Sotoko, Mitsuko and I couldn't stand for that, but Amaiko was not open to anything. She knew very well that she would be severely punished for helping us escape, but she wouldn't be killed. Our stepfather was a greedy man, and Amaiko brought in more money than anyone, even though she was only eighteen. But the other three of us came up with a plan so that all of us could leave.

"So, on the planned night of our departure we all left at midnight. Amaiko had called in the guards one by one for free service, only to serve drugged drinks and food to them, so all the guards were unconscious. Sotoko had fed the guard dogs the same sedatives in their food, and Mitsuko persuaded her mentor to negotiate with my stepfather about her wages. Now, my sisters were disguised as the serving maids and I was stuffed into a basket. We were almost out of the harem... when we were caught." Yumichika picked up a cookie and crushed it between his fingertips.

"Blatantly refusing Mitsuko's mentor her raise in pay, my stepfather stormed outside to smoke. He bumped into Amaiko, who was carrying my basket, and she dropped it. I tumbled out, of course, and my sisters attempted to pick me up and run for it, but my stepfather was quicker. He picked me up by the throat and told my sisters to leave and never come back or I would be killed. They hesitated, but when his grip on me tightened, they ran. I never saw my sisters again.

"Well, I was pulled inside and dragged into my father's office, where he beat me and things like that." Yumichika ran his finger across a red feather at his eye and frowned. "I don't remember much, but he just kept shouting 'Ugly! Ugly! You will always be ugly!' at me. Really, how could I not be when I'm bleeding all over the place? But anyways, I was cast outside, and I guess I died, because I ended up in Rukongai.

"Then I remember going right to the river to check my reflection. Was I really that ugly? To the point where I had to be murdered? So from then on I became preoccupied with my appearance… So well…"

Yumichika shrugged and smiled again. "That's that, I suppose. Are you still hanging in there, Hinamori-san?"

Momo nodded. "Yeah, I am. I just… wow. You've been through a lot, haven't you?"

"Not really. Compared to what happened to you recently, I've been through nothing more than a puddle of mud. Ugh, that's unsanitary, but ignoring that… We all have our share of unpleasantness, but also of good, hm?" He smiled and sipped at his cold tea and made a face. "Oops, I left a cookie in there. It's bloomed, like a real flower. But it is ugly…" Yumichika shook his head. "Again, I can't break my habit…" He sighed. "So sorry, Hinamori-san."

"No, no, don't be," Momo protested. "Your habits make you who you are, Yumichika. So… Don't change, unless you really want to." She glanced out the window and started. "Ah! It's nighttime already! I have to go leave now, I'm sorry."

"But of course," Yumichika said, and escorted Momo out.

"Thank you for the tea," she said, bowing at his door. "Remember, we're off on a mission, so meet me, Hanatarou, and Nanao a day from now, okay?"

Yumichika nodded. "Of course, of course," he repeated. "I hope you recover from your coughing, Momo."

Momo smiled. "Thank you, Yumichika. Goodnight." She waved and began walking.

"Goodnight, beautiful."

"No, no, don't do that."

"Sorry, force of habit."

_-o-_

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_Just a little one-shot that was nibbling at me. I don't really consider this a pairing, but I thought that these two needed some air time, so I used them! I'm not sure if Yumichika already has an official past written for him by Tite Kubo, but I'm not really a Bleach fan. Really. So, sorry! But I hope you liked it, and I hope that more people will think that Yumichika rocks. However... this story may make people do the opposite... (headdesks)_


End file.
